Endel said that state conventions affiliated with the SBC are all working to upgrade their process to address abuse. The SBC, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, passed a series of reforms in 2022 aimed at addressing the issue of sexual abuse, including setting up a “Ministry Check” website that will track abuse by pastors and creating a toolkit of resources for preventing abuse. The SBC has also expelled churches that have mishandled abuse allegations.
A 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News found hundreds of abuse cases in SBC churches over several decades. A 2022 report from Guidepost Solutions found that SBC leaders had spent years trying to downplay the scope of abuse in the 13 million-member convention and had mistreated abuse survivors for years.
At their 2023 annual meeting, Southern Baptists reauthorized a task force that is implementing the abuse reforms.
This article originally appeared here.
